Ever since I started eating salads as a wee lass, I have loved croutons.  No scratch that, I adore croutons!  Crispy crunchy little bits of bread that are loaded with flavor adding a nice texture to salad.  Sometimes they’ll soak up a bit of the dressing acquiring even more flavor!  I prefer smaller bite sized pieces but I won’t turn down a crouton when presented to me.

I used to buy croutons all the time at the store.  I had my favorite brands and favorite flavors.  Garlic was a must and cheese was optional.

Croutons that came on salads from a restaurant seemed even more special.  No doubt they were the same croutons I was buying myself but when you’re out to dinner everything always seems a little more decadent and special.

I rarely meet a crouton that I don’t like.  Oh it happens, just not often.

For some reason it never occurred…

This summer has been notable for two reasons: heat and farmer’s markets.  Because of the heat, I have only wanted to eat a lot of cool things.  The HQ has been seeing various kinds of salads for meals this summer.  We have also been frequenting Farmer’s Markets because local towns have picked up hosting mid-week markets which fits our schedule a little better.

I noticed a lovely batch of green beans on a recent trip to the Farmer’s market and I had to have some.  I’m not the only one in this house who loves green beans, Rocky loves them too.  I picked up enough for all of us to enjoy!

Green beans are a bean that I have always been in love with.  I don’t care how you serve them up, I will eat them.  That includes fried green beans although I won’t…

The last installment of Salsa Week and this one just happens to be in a close running to winning the title of my favorite salsa!

Whenever I look at jarred salsa, the one kind I always search out is a black bean and corn salsa.  I love those!  The beans and corn add such a nice texture to the salsa.  It even allows me to handle a more spicier salsa because somehow the beans and corn seem to tame down the assertive peppers.

Eventually I wondered to myself if one could make salsa with black beans and corn as the main ingredient instead of them being added into a tomato based salsa.

You’re never going to know the answer to your question until you try it, right?  So that’s exactly what I set out to do and now I cannot get enough of this salsa.  I could pretty much consume the entire…

Day 2 of Salsa Week and this time we are kicking it with a Roasted Green Salsa!

Recently a reader contacted me with a question about my Roasted Tomato Salsa.  Then she asked me about a green salsa.  She said that her favorite Mexican restaurant serves this green salsa but that it’s not made with tomatillo.

Curious!

Because when we think of green salsa, we automatically think of tomatillos, right? Those little green things that look like tomatoes but are located with all the peppers.  She mentioned that the server didn’t really know what the salsa was because it was a secret but that they thought it was made from jalapenos.

While this could very well be the case, imagine how many jalapenos you would have to use to get the amount of salsa needed to serve an entire restaurant.  Exactly!  A crazy huge number!  I thought about it…

Remember how I said that I needed to get caught up on recipe posting?  Well it’s time to start!  I’m calling this week, Salsa Week and I’ll be posting a few of my newest salsa recipes.  They are super easy and you’ll notice that they all follow a similar concept.  You’ll be whipping up salsa in no time flat!

The first salsa to be showcased this week is a fruit salsa.  I have heard many mentions of people eating salsa made from pineapple and mango but yet I’ve never come across any!  I haven’t seen a recipe, nor a jar of it in the store, not even seeing it listed on a menu someplace.

The pineapple and mango salsa has been out of my grasp!  I decided that it couldn’t be that hard to make and tried my hand at making a test batch.  The first step was getting some fresh…

If you recall a previous post where I talked about Columbus’s Beer Family’s First Potluck, then you will remember that my contribution to the event was Cheddar Chipotle Puffs.

Cheddar Chipotle Puffs that were paired with Rogue Chipotle Ale.  Cleverness!

To briefly recap, the idea behind the party was to pair a craft beer with a food item that you made.  I really wanted to bring a Rogue beer since it fit the criteria of a craft beer and it’s also easy for me to get my hands on.  Then I had to decide what to pair it with.  Once I knew that I was going to use the Chipotle Ale then a dish utilizing chipotles was the obvious choice.

I didn’t want the chipotles to be too overpowering though.  They can really bring the heat and I wanted to keep the heat level moderate enough…

It’s Cinco de Mayo!  Do you have any plans for embracing the holiday?  I’m going to hit up the store and hopefully make a nice feast for us for dinner.  In honor of the day, I’m sharing a new salsa recipe!  I’m very particular about salsa.  It has to be just right for me to enjoy it.  The best salsas that I’ve had have been at little Mexican restaurants.  I’ve tried to recreate them myself with zero luck.  I had no idea what the problem was because I tried every which way.

Recently I had some baby heirloom tomatoes that needed used up before they turned on me.  I was flip-flopping about what to make with them when I decided that I would try making salsa again.  This time I had a different plan of attack; roasting.

There is fresh salsa that can be made with all raw ingredients…

I love cornbread and I mean LOVE it.  Like real love and not just like-like, you know?  I’m also really picky about my cornbread.  I like it sweet, not too sweet, but it definitely needs to have some sweet background to it.  I also do not like things in my cornbread.

Things include:

• Corn
• Jalapenos
• Bacon
• Green onion

And any other variety of “things” that have the potential of throwing off the texture of the sweet divine bread.  Also?  Do you know when I like to eat cornbread?

For breakfast or for dessert.  Although if you ask me to pick a favorite time, it’s going to be with breakfast because sweet cornbread goes amazingly well with morning coffee.

At least in my world it does.

When I discovered that I could make cornbread on my own, goodness I was ecstatic! We rarely had cornbread at my parent’s house growing up.  In fact the best memories I have of…

This is a concept that I came up with a few years ago when it dawned on me that “pesto” can be made using a variety of ingredients.  I always have spinach on hand and (at the time) occasionally had sundried tomatoes on hand.  I decided to mix the two to see what would happen.

When I originally made this, I did add in some grated parm but left out the nuts.  This turned into an amazing spread and dip.  We instantly fell in love with the smooth spinach and the sweet chewiness of the sundried tomatoes.  The concept is super easy and can be adjusted to fit your tastes!

I never measure when I make this recipe, so this is more of a concept type post than an actual recipe with measurements.

Andrea’s Spinach and Sundried Tomato Dip

• Fresh baby spinach
• Sundried tomatoes (marinated or unmarinated, it’s up to you)
• 1…

The other day at the grocery store I came across some baby heirloom tomatoes and became quickly excited! I double checked to make sure that they were not from Mexico. They were not, score!  They were gorgeous and I decided to buy them since a container was only $2!  Not bad!

While I know that tomatoes are not in season right now, I also realize that some farmers run hydroponics in the winter to provide more produce.  This is a practice that I do not have an issue with.

Because these tomatoes were gorgeous, I wanted to use them in a dish that would show them off and not cover them up.  Tomatoes can easily get lost in a dish if there’s a lot going on or if the sauce is really heavy.  I wanted to avoid this as much as possible.

Tomatoes have a ton of juice…